Toronto Maple Leafs: Sheldon Keefe Has Given Up, Dresses Same Lineup

The Toronto Maple Leafs coach appears to have run out of ideas and given up, even though it’s only the 2nd of November.

At least, that is how it appears as Keefe seems to be dressing the exact same lineup the Toronto Maple Leafs used against LA on Tuesday.

Sadistic.  Insane.  Ill-Advised.

I don’t know what else to call it when your team plays their worst game in 12 years (you have to go all the way back to the game that got Ron Wilson fired to see a worse performance) and the coach doesn’t make a single lineup change.

Embarrassing. Stupid.  Unprofessional.

I don’t know.  Like I said, I think he has just given up.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Sheldon Keefe Has Given Up, Dresses Same Lineup

It is honestly truly embarrassing that the Leafs are still going to dress Ryan Reaves.  Has a player ever been this bad, for this many games,  and not been scratched or demoted?

I honestly doubt it.

Is Keefe afraid of his boss? You can’t be an effective coach in the NHL if you’re afraid to scratch your GM’s dumbest signing.

Trying to win an NHL game while your fourth line automatically loses their minutes is pretty difficult.

But trying to beat Boston when both your third and fourth lines are automatic losses? That’s almost impossible.

Of course, the Toronto Maple Leafs can win – if their superstars go off, and they get good goaltending, any team can win on any given night.  However, you can’t consistently win games if you don’t get contributions from the entire lineup.

The Leafs never get that.

The Third line of Kampf centring Knies and Domi is pure garbage. The fact that the Leafs don’t have a 3rd line centre and the coach still hasn’t given Domi a shot there tells you what the coach thinks about his game.

I also cannot believe that Matthews Knies is being wasted like this, or that Calle Jarnkrok is back on the first line, where he has been horrible.

Matthews and Jarnkrok have combined for a 48% Expected Goals Rating, but Matthews with any other player has a 60% Xgoals rating. (stats naturalstattrick.com).

How does Sheldon Keefe not know this?

The lines are garbage.  The lineup is pretty bad. This team doesn’t work hard enough, they don’t have any chemistry, they have no identity, and the pieces the GM acquired do not fit in.

Mark Giordano is the oldest player in the NHL and lining up tonight in the top-four of a team that thinks it’s a Cup Contender.  That is Fire the GM bad.  That is incompetent.

The new GM had $20 million to spend, he brought in John Klingberg and Simon Benoit.  That is a fireable offense.  I know he just got hired, but damn….

The Toronto Maple Leafs can’t sit still and wait for moves to come to them. They need to be proactive.  The team as it’s currently constructed might not make the playoffs.

I honestly can’t believe that Sheldon Keefe didn’t change his lineup at all, because if the team replicates their game from Tuesday, there will be no choice but to fire him.

You don’t get two games like that in a row.